The McCarter Theatre Center presented Mark Morris Dance Group, and the MMDG Music Ensemble at the Matthews Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, on May 17, 2019.

 

Mark Morris (born 1956) is a director, choreographer, and conductor. He has danced with Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, and Eliot Feld, among others before creating his eponymous dance company in 1980. From 1988 to 1991, his company resided in Brussels at the National Opera House. The company returned to the United States in 1991. It has its home in Brooklyn, New York.

 

This evening’s performance was graced by live music created by the MMDG Music Ensemble, created in 1996 to accompany the Mark Morris Dance Company. The five musicians are: Colin Fowler; Wolfram Koessel; Devin Moore; Kris Saebo; and Georgy Valtchev. They played two works by Lou Harrison and Franz Schubert’s Quintet in A major, the Trout Quintet. Schubert’s classic needs no introduction; However, Lou Harrison’s oeuvre does. An American composer who lived from 1917 to 2003, Harrison studied under Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. Unapologetically gay, he lived with lover Bill Colvig for thirty-three years, from 1967 until Colvig’s death in 2000. Mark Morris is also gay, so there is a psychic connection between Morris and Lou Harrison’s music.

 

The evening began with Pacific, premiered by the San Francisco Ballet in 1995, later premiering with Morris’ troupe in 2015, with music by Lou Harrison, his Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, 3rd and 4th movements. Nine dancers emerge by turns dancing, often hypnotically circling about the stage, with bare-chested men wearing diaphanous skirts, and women wearing non-descript attire. Costumes were credited to the late, great, Tony-Award-winning Martin Pakledinaz.

 

Grand Duo was next. A work in four parts, with music by Lou Harrison, his Grand Duo for Violin and Piano. The dance had its company premiere in 1993. A larger group of dancers arrived, left, re-entered, and generally circulated about the stage in hypnotic fashion, akin to what we might think of as Grecian antique dance or summer camp round dancing. Morris has a dance vocabulary not as startling as that of Anna Halprin, but rather similar to that of Erik Hawkins, especially the Hawkins work, Heyoka.

 

The Trout was the last work of the evening. This 2018 work had its premiere at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. Dancers appeared to be walking in a park, but looking to find someone or something. Not seeing what they sought, they darted back into the wings. This went on for some dozens of times with groups and single dancers. The entire dance was later punctuated by high spirits, and skipping choreography. Some lifts were now employed, with the slightly-built men of the company often hoisting their tall, athletically-built female counterparts into the air.

 

Audience acclaim for Mark Morris Dance Group and the MMDG Music Ensemble was warm at the evening’s close, with standing ovations accorded to Mr. Morris himself when he came out for bows with his company and in a solo turn.

 

The Matthews Theatre was packed, with this reviewer sitting at the back of the house. The McCarter audiences are starved for dance. We hope that the McCarter will have many more dance companies visit their venues in years to come.

 

The McCarter’s season continues, and the 2019-2020 Season has been announced. For information, visit www.mccarter.org .